231: Chapter 231 Level Three Life, Mai Gu Rong

"Controlled Nuclear Fusion, molecular materials, mecha units, special substances, military ranks... how did this person manage to be involved in so many fields?"

"Energy, materials, mecha, early aircraft carriers... these are the four cornerstones of humanity's entry into the space age, and this man actually participated in all of them!"

"Isn't the most terrifying thing that he was already in the Arctic Circle fifty years ago? Xiao Shuihan went there and fell seriously ill afterward. Lord Xinhuo and the others have even listed that place as a forbidden zone!"

"Could it be that this person was already at least a Level 2 Lifeform fifty years ago? Then what level is he now?"

Several senior subordinates of the Xinhuo Department looked at each other in dismay.

They were all native Martians, none over fifty years old. Seeing Jiang Chen's dusty historical archives now, they naturally found it completely unbelievable.

It was utterly unbelievable that there was such a knowledgeable person fifty years ago.

It was utterly unbelievable that such a high-level life form existed fifty years ago!

The history books of the Mars Base didn't record this!

Using less than ten pages, they simply wrote: Earth was once the home planet.

The hundreds of pages that followed were all about the great achievements of humanity's entry into space, the successes of the Mars Base, the history of power struggles with the Lunar Base, praise for the Luan Bird's development in the Solar System, the path of life evolution, and so on.

Because of this, native Martians only had the impression of Earth as the home planet.

It was as if humanity's most important achievements began with the Mars Base.

However...

At this moment, this archive hit these native Martians like a bolt from the blue.

Humanity's current foundations in energy, materials, special substances, and mecha had already been laid by someone fifty years ago.

And this person came from Earth.

For a moment, they suddenly felt a flicker of doubt regarding the glory of their Mars Base.

But just then, someone spoke up: "Perhaps this person's life level hasn't surpassed Lord Xinhuo's?"

Lord Xinhuo was the strongest and most perfect evolver at the Mars Base; he represented the direction of human evolution!

This was an absolute, supreme honor.

"But he was already at the Eskimo Ice Sheet fifty years ago..." another person muttered.

"Maybe fifty years later, he is still a Level 2 Lifeform..."

That person wanted to continue arguing, but even he felt a bit uncertain as he spoke.

"Report this to Lord Xinhuo. This level is no longer something we can discuss."

"Also, do not spread word of this. Otherwise, you will be dealt with by Star Law!"

The man with the most seniority present spoke, settling the matter.

Everyone fell silent and quickly transmitted the relevant data to Lord Xinhuo.

The so-called Lord Xinhuo was a man named Mai Gurong.

He was only in his early fifties, born just after the Great Wall Scientific Research Station system was established. His mother was a descendant of the nobility from the early Western Europe Great Britain Royal Family, and his father was an engineer from the Dragon Kingdom. Relying on high immigration costs and marriage, they obtained a Dragon Kingdom Green Card.

And gave birth to this Mr. Mai Gurong.

Later, when the Xinhuo Faction occupied the Mars Base, his family successfully immigrated there using their substantial wealth.

Although he could speak both Chinese and English fluently...

Mr. Mai Gurong never considered himself an Earthling.

He took pride in his pure Martian bloodline.

As he step-by-step became the strongest evolver at the Mars Base, he also entered Mars' highest ruling body, the Organization.

This ruling body originally consisted mainly of the Xinhuo Faction from the Dragon Kingdom.

But the Xinhuo Faction's stance was global integration, which led to more and more people from other nations entering the institution. By now, even the top position was held by Mai Gurong.

From the perspective of the Dragon Kingdom, this stance was a complete failure, as less than thirty percent of the people within the Organization were now from the Dragon Kingdom. Although they still held a third of the power, the factions had become very complex.

But from the perspective of strength, this stance indeed stimulated the potential of many Earthlings, which was why a large number of Level 2 Lifeforms chose the Mars Base.

Meanwhile, the Lunar Base was still dominated by the Dragon Emblem Faction, with ninety percent being from the Dragon Kingdom.

However, the Dragon Kingdom only had a total of just over one billion people, while Earth had nearly ten billion.

Additionally, since life evolution seemed to be randomly distributed and unrelated to nationality or race, the Lunar Base had a potential pool of nearly nine billion fewer people than the Mars Base.

Over time, the Mars Base ended up with far more Level 1 Life Forms and Level 2 Lifeforms than the Lunar Base.

Of course.

At the very top levels, the Lunar Base was not inferior to the Mars Base.

Combined with the neutral stance of high-level life forms like General Wei and Jiang Haipeng, the Moon and Mars had essentially split the world between them over the years.

At this time, Mai Gurong was not at the Mars Base.

He was aboard a spacecraft, traveling through a sector of space at a speed of 16.7 kilometers per second.

This speed was the Third Cosmic Velocity; if he continued, he could leave the Solar System.

However, he wasn't planning to leave the Solar System but was heading toward the 'Asteroid Belt' of the Solar System.

The so-called Asteroid Belt is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, distributed around like a pile of scattered debris, forming a massive ring known as the 'Asteroid Belt'.

According to human detection, 98% of the dwarf planets in the Solar System are within this ring.

Many incoming comets and debris are blocked by this Asteroid Belt.

Humans used to speculate that this Asteroid Belt might exist to block meteorites and comets for Earth.

But now, whether it was the Mars Base, the Lunar Base, or the Luan Bird, all were exploring this Asteroid Belt because these non-luminous asteroids contained rich amounts of Qi within them.

Thunder, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth.

Qi elements of the five major attributes could all be found on these asteroids.

Most importantly, this Qi was concentrated together, unlike the Qi in space which was randomly dispersed and difficult to gather.

Similar to the Antarctic Continent, although humans had detected a large amount of Qi from unknown sources there...

It was distributed across the entire Antarctic Continent, extremely dispersed like air, and was even spreading toward the rest of Earth; currently, there was no way to collect it.

But the Qi on these asteroids was different; it had condensed like fossils.

[Asteroid detected ahead, designated M78, diameter 10 kilometers. Preliminary detection indicates it contains 80% earth qi elements.]

An electronic voice suddenly rang out inside the ship.

Mai Gurong was currently in the command room. Hearing this voice and seeing the returned images and data, he was immediately overjoyed.

His attribute was earth qi.

Unfortunately, the earth qi on the Mars Base was no longer sufficient, and too many people were dividing it up.

He could only risk his life to come out and search for it.

Whoosh!

The ship rapidly approached the asteroid. After reaching a certain distance, a figure leaped out and plummeted toward the planet at extreme speed.

The ship fired its engines in reverse to maintain relative speed with the planet, finally hovering in mid-air.

Meanwhile, Mai Gurong successfully landed on the planet, smashing a deep crater two hundred meters wide.

Fortunately, he was already a high-level life form hovering on the edge of becoming a Level 3 Lifeform and did not need external oxygen to provide energy circulation; his internal body was itself a powerful engine capable of self-circulation.

Therefore, after crashing into the planet, he simply performed a quick check of his body. Finding that he had only broken a leg, he didn't care.

He sat down and began to exercise his talent, preparing to consume all the earth qi of this planet.

Mai Gurong's ability to absorb earth qi elements was innate; even he himself couldn't explain it.

He only knew that when he was six years old, testing at the Mars Base showed he could absorb earth qi elements. Not only were there no side effects, but it also made his body stronger and stronger.

Thus, he was defined as an evolver on the earth qi path.

Luckily, his family background was good, allowing him to purchase large amounts of earth qi. Over time, he progressed rapidly, first becoming a Level 1 Life Form, then having his lungs degenerate to become a Level 2 Lifeform, and now he had been hovering at the edge of Level 3 Lifeform for a long time.

The reason he was said to be hovering at Level 3 Lifeform was that he could occasionally feel himself resonating with all distant elements containing earth.

But when he felt an impulse and tried to move distant earth and stone, he would find that he had lost that resonance ability.

Therefore, it could only be defined as hovering.

Ultimately, it was still a lack of energy.

He was just a bit short of being a true Level 3 Lifeform.

"If I consume this entire earth qi asteroid, I should be able to become a Level 3 Lifeform, right?"

Mai Gurong muttered to himself as he sat on the desolate, silent planet.

To find a suitable asteroid, he had been wandering in this Asteroid Belt for over half a month.

Before long, the Fusion Pill inside his body began an energy reaction.

A large amount of earth qi diffused from his body, spreading across this planet like dust.

The surface of the planet where it spread emitted a sizzling energy reaction.

According to Mai Gurong's own speculation, this should be a form of refining.

Extracting the earth qi from the impurities of the planet.

Soon, with Mai Gurong as the center, a refining circle with a temperature as high as 100 million degrees and a radius of three kilometers appeared on the planet.

Within this circle, a large amount of earth qi elements was being extracted.

Mai Gurong only needed to pull these earth qi elements toward his Fusion Pill, and they would be considered absorbed.

As for digestion, he could take his time.

One day.

Two days.

One week.

Half a month passed quickly.

As Mai Gurong refined it, the mass of this asteroid dropped rapidly, and its orbit began to become unstable.

When its mass fell below half of its original, it began to fall toward another planet.

The speed of the fall gradually increased, and just as it seemed it would fall apart...

Mai Gurong felt the energy within his body reach an unprecedented level of fullness.

With a movement of the earth qi energy in his Fusion Pill, a one-ton piece of earth debris in the distance actually resonated and flew over automatically.

Boom.

Mai Gurong shattered the debris with one punch, his eyes flashing with arrogance.

At this moment, he could resonate with and control all substances containing earth and stone in the distance at will.

"Hmm? It's about to break apart?"

Mai Gurong looked down and saw that the asteroid was about to disintegrate.

Understanding the situation, he stomped his foot and returned to the ship that had been following him the whole time.

As he steered the ship away, that asteroid completely crashed into another, larger planet.

[Beep, beep. Highest-level alarm from the Organization.]

[Time: Five days ago.]

As soon as Mai Gurong returned to the ship, the electronic voice issued an alarm.

"View."